


Warmth

by Adder



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Game Spoilers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 03:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5693425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adder/pseuds/Adder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hajime and his surviving friends are now alone on the real Jabberwock Island. Will one of their comatose friends wake up? And if so, who?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: aovnionveanlgnalinqoienvowinbowlrn
> 
> I'm not sure what I did here. All my writingspiration comes to me at like 2 in the morning so yeah. I skimmed it but am too embarrassed to thoroughly edit it. Sorry if I got characterizations or other things wrong. I just needed to get some Komahina out of my system after beating sdr2. I hope this isn't too terrible x.x'

It was... strange.

Strange...

Yes, that was a good enough word. Strange.

Gazing at his reflection in the sea, he knew something had changed. At first, he didn’t recognize the face in the water. That long, black hair, those piercing blood red eyes... Was that really him?

He paused to rub at his eyes with the sleeve of his uniform jacket. Kamukura... No, no, that wasn’t it. Hinata Hajime. That was his real name, right? It was strange. He vaguely remembered being on an island just like this one. There were... fifteen others there with him. They went through a lot together... and in the end... only five of them managed to awaken into the real world.

Because the five of them had left the virtual Jabberwock Island in hopes of creating their own future, it was relieving to see that they were still themselves. Their memory of their time on the virtual island was spotty and their friends were still in a comatose state, but at least the five of them were no longer the same Remnants of Despair as before the island simulation. Or so, they hoped.

Glancing down at the pair of scissors Makoto Naegi had given him, Hajime exhausted a small sigh before he got to work cutting all the wretched hair off. It took quite a bit of time, and even afterward Sonia insisted upon cleaning it up for him, but alas, Hajime started to look and feel more like himself.

“You know, if we were still on Monokuma’s island, you’d get punished for littering,” was how Fuyuhiko greeted him when he entered the former NWP headquarters. He was just sitting on a chair, taking his turn at watching over the place while everyone else scoured the island for necessities.

“It’s just hair. It’ll decompose eventually,” Hajime retorted lightly, crossing his arms.

Fuyuhiko just gave him a wide grin. “Whatever. Anyway, welcome back, brother.” He reached up to roughly pat him on the shoulder twice.

Hajime lightly rolled his eyes, moving to put the scissors into a ‘safebox’ on a high shelf. Really, it was just a cardboard box, but the five of them agreed that it was more comforting to have any dangerous items in a place where they could access them in case of emergency, but stall for time if someone were to lose it for some reason.

“I’m guessing nothing happened while I was away?” he questioned, scanning the circle of pods that contained his unconscious companions.

A small sigh escaped Fuyuhiko. “I thought I heard something move and got really excited, but it turned out to be a rat. Damn rodents.”

“Maybe it’s drawn to Gundam’s, err, overlord of darkness...ness...?” Hajime tried.

Fuyuhiko just shook his head slowly, lazily nudging his eyepatch strings back into place. “I just... don’t think they’re gonna wake on their own. I don’t really want to believe that they’re gone forever, though...” He paused, giving Hajime a frown, “Can’t you, like, channel some of that Kamukura genius and think of something...?”

Hajime turned, gaze resting on the control panel of the NWP. It was true that he technically had the body of the Ultimate Hope now, but he doubted that meant he was suddenly good at everything.

_“Absolute hope can overcome any despair.”_

Almost as if it were instinctive, Hajime’s head jerked to stare blankly at the pod that contained their most dangerous companion, Komaeda Nagito. Yes, if he were around... no doubt he would insist that Hajime would be their saviour or something. The guy always had a weird fondness for him... Hajime wondered if that was because he somehow picked up that he was the Ultimate Hope. But, no, if that were the case, then why would his final act have been so concentrated on getting them all killed?

Agh, that guy never made any sense. Just when Hajime thought he could finally grasp one aspect of Komaeda’s thought process, the guy would say something totally uncalled for and toss him back to square one. It was... frustrating. With Fuyuhiko, Kazuichi, and the others, it was pretty easy to figure out what kind of people they were and what they wanted and the such. With the exception of Mikan, he knew he could trust them because they were always themselves. But the only reason why Hajime had stuck around Komaeda for so long was because he hoped that by putting up with his bizarre talk about hope and despair and how useless he was, that somehow he could think of a way to... understand him? Fix him? Help him? Actually, he wasn’t entirely sure now...

He turned his attention back to the control panel. The NWP, in order to have them earn new memories in their virtual island paradise, had taken their past memories and created avatars based off of past memories. When those avatars were destroyed, both the Future Foundation and the Monokuma virus claimed it was impossible to bring them back. But where did those memories of their school lives go? Surely there must be something in the system that still has them, even if said thing was the recycle bin. Or the past memories. Surely they weren’t crafted into the avatars? And if so, couldn’t he just extract data from before that to recreate their avatars and awaken them? Oh wait, but they thought they were dead so...

His head was starting to hurt.

“Fuyuhiko, I’m taking a nap. Don’t bother me,” Hajime sighed, moving to curl up in his old pod. They didn’t have any beds yet, so it had to do.

“What? You didn’t do anything today!” Fuyuhiko whined, though he didn’t try to stop him or anything.

Hajime fell asleep surprisingly quickly. Wait, there weren’t any weird medical side effects from having his brain utterly screwed with, were there? Well, other than the whole personality and ‘talent’ change...

He was... dreaming now. He was... in that hospital in the virtual world. But like, it was a dream, right, so it wasn’t like he was actually back there. Right? He pinched himself in the cheek to make sure. It kinda hurt. Or was that because he expected it to hurt.

“... Why are you still here?”

Blinking, Hajime almost jumped when he realized Komaeda was standing in front of him. His skin was paler than usual, his eyes dreary, his posture slack. Ah. Was this... when he was suffering from the Despair Disease?

“I told you I don’t want to see your face. Get out.”

“You’re lying.” Hajime said that without thinking.

Komaeda’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I’m not lying,” he retorted weakly.

Hajime frowned. He really shouldn’t be arguing with him. He almost died... Wait, no, wasn’t he...?

“Are you sure you should be out of bed?” He questioned. Something told him... back on the real island he had obeyed and just left. After all, why would he put up with a freak like Komaeda? But the despair disease made everything Komaeda say a 100% lie. So him telling him that he was the last person he wanted to see...

“I’m fine. I’ve never felt better,” Komaeda insisted.

Hajime shook his head. “You should rest more. Since Mikan is resting, I’ll stay here and watch over you, alright?”

“You know, this is what I hate about you. I don’t need your pity. Leave me alone.” Komaeda took a shaky step forward, like he was trying to be intimidating despite his ailing state. “You’re scared you’ll catch the disease, right? So get out. You’re selfish that way.”

Hajime needed to reverse his statements for a moment before he reacted. It was probably because he was just dreaming but... instead of giving up and leaving, he stepped forward as well, until he had his arms wrapped around Komaeda, supporting his clammy figure in a loose hug.  

“S-stop! I don’t want this!” Komaeda choked out, starting to shake. But Hajime ignored him.

He wasn’t sure why he was doing this. It’s just... he felt like he heard Komaeda say a lot about how insignificant he was. He felt sick of it. Sure, Komaeda was creepy and weird, but he had his reasons. Reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Hajime, he... he wanted everyone to be happy. The others, he managed to calm down. But he never seemed to get through to Komaeda. And now it was...

“... Hajime... Hajime...! HAJIME!!”

Hajime jolted awake, nearly smacking his head into Kazuichi’s.

“W-what?!” Hajime stammered, rubbing at his eyes. Everyone was gathered around one of the pods, seeming anxious.

“It’s Komaeda! His vitals monitor started going berserk and none of us know what to do! Dammit, if only Mikan was still with us...!” Kazuichi explained hurriedly, his eyes wide with fear.

It was almost... laughable, actually. The four of them, they hated Komaeda, didn’t they? So why were they so unnerved?

It was hope, wasn’t it? The hope that maybe, just maybe, despite all the technical mumbo jumbo, their friends could still come back to them, and they could all live happily together at last...

Hajime pushed himself out of his pod, squeezing past Akane to feel Komaeda’s neck for a pulse. He doubted he had any doctorness inside of him, but he could tell Komaeda’s breathing was getting shallow and his pulse was weakening.

“Hey! Who said you could die on us again?!” Hajime found himself shouting, heart pounding anxiously as he tried to think of something. The pods were built to maintain one’s physical health while inside of it, but if said person’s physical condition was already poor to begin with...

Right, he reckoned Komaeda had said something at some point about how he was weak or ill or something.

Think, Hajime, think! The promise was that they were all supposed to survive together, right? That included Komaeda! Komaeda, who despite his strangeness, was the first to reach out to him, and though he was rather cruel when he found out the truth about Hajime’s ‘talent’, prior to, he always seemed to be more or less with him, even if it meant he was going against him as a way of making his point stronger. He always greeted him with that stupid smile, always treated him like he was this great person...

When Hajime saw Komaeda’s dead body back in that one warehouse, he wasn’t so much horrified by how gory his death had been, but more by the fact that it was Komaeda. Komaeda was... he always seemed immortal to Hajime. Even if he talked about how willing he was to die for everyone’s hope a lot, Hajime never viewed him as being able to die. It wasn’t possible. He wasn’t...

“Dammit, you’re not allowed to die! Not again!” Plunging into the pod, Hajime let his brain take over, loosening Komaeda’s collar and shifting his position to allow optimal oxygen to enter his system. The warning beeps of the vitals monitor was supplemented by Sonia’s despairing sobs and the sound of Kazuichi digging through shelves and boxes for anything that could be of use.

Hajime felt like he was watching a thread on the verge of snapping. Komaeda’s face was starting to lose its colour, everything was getting weak... There was only one more thing he could do.

_You’d better not make me regret this later._

He crawled over Komaeda, and started pushing down on his chest as fast as he could. After a while, he lowered himself onto his elbows, his nose nearly touching the other’s. With a sharp, nervous inhale, he closed the distance between their lips, puffing as much air as he could into the guy’s lungs.

He repeated the process. He had no idea where he learned it, but it felt right, so he kept going.

He felt like he could die from fear. What if this wasn’t enough? What if Komaeda’s luck had finally run out? What if-

Hajime had leaned in to breathe more air into Komaeda, but he nearly screamed instead of exhaled when he felt Komaeda’s lips react, lightly squeezing against the side of his mouth.

“Y-You...!” Hajime started to yell as he shot upward, arm covering his mouth. But he was cut off by the sound of laughter.

“... Is this what they call a good morning kiss...? Well, good morning to you too...” Komaeda’s voice was weak and airy, but the monitor’s beeping had ceased. He coughed weakly a few times, shifting as feeling returned to his body.

“Komaeda!” Akane and Fuyuhiko exclaimed in near unison, relief quickly replacing the dread that had plagued their expressions only seconds earlier.

Hajime could only stare down at Komaeda as he slowly pushed himself upright, eyes drooping with exhaustion, but still light with amusement.

“Alalala, Hajime, could it be? You’ve harboured such feelings for someone like me all this time? I’m touched,” Komaeda purred, reaching out with his good hand to touch the center of Hajime’s chest, “I’m rather tired, though, so if you wanted to have ‘fun’ too, that will have to wait.”

“Th-that’s not!” Hajime stammered, unable to will his body to move for some reason. All he could do was stare.

Komaeda’s smile strengthened a tad. Fortunately, he turned his gaze away from Hajime and to the cluster of teary-eyed persons around them. “Ah, your eyes... they’re all filled with hope. Did you worry about trash like me that much? Well, if this is the good hope wants, then so be it.”

“Komaeda, you ass. Why’d you have to be the first to wake up?” Fuyuhiko sniffled.

“I’m so glad! Our friends have a chance after all!” Sonia cried, hugging a baffled Kazuichi in her joy.

“You did it Hajime! I knew you could do it!” Akane cheered, eyes red from resisting the urge to cry, “I-I’ll go get some water! And food! Lotsa food! We gotta celebrate tonight!”

“Ah, shit, yeah, Kazuichi, c’mon, we’re going fishing!” Fuyuhiko choked out, angrily mopping up his tears with his sleeve and moving to drag a starstruck Kazuichi out of the base.

“I-I’ll help too!” Sonia managed, shakily getting to her feet and following the others out.

That left Hajime to babysit. Dammit.

After a few awkward moments passed, Hajime finally found the strength to clamber out of Komaeda’s pod. “R-right, you almost died so uh, you’ll want to rest and such so,” he hurried to his pod, pulling out his jacket that he had rolled up into a makeshift pillow, “U-um, you can use this... then...”

“Hajime’s jacket...” Komaeda took it gingerly, like he were afraid it would burst into flames, “What bad luck had I endured to earn such happiness? I’m so happy I could die.”

“You better not die!” Hajime spat, unnerved by how... unnerved he was. All he did was save the idiot’s life. Komaeda wasn’t acting any different than he usually did, so why was he... why was his heart still pounding? There was nothing for him to be scared about anymore, so why...? Surely he...?

Komaeda let out a light laugh. How could he laugh in this kind of situation? He almost died! Again! B-but he was conscious now so...

“K-Komaeda...” He took a few deep breaths of his own in an attempt to force-calm himself, “Do you... remember anything? Before you... woke up?”

“Hmmm,” Komaeda carefully set the rolled up jacket beside himself, and tilted his head thoughtfully, “Something... warm. It kept getting warmer until, alas, I woke to you kissing me all so valiantly. Other than that, I only remember darkness and pain.”

Something... warm? Surely he wasn’t talking about that awkward hug he gave him in his dream? That wasn’t possible... right?

“Speaking of which, Hajime, why are you still calling me by my last name? Do I not mean as much to you as I thought?”

Hajime jumped a bit at that. His first name? R-right, Komaeda was the only one he didn’t refer to by their first name. “I... I...”

“Repeat after me,” Komaeda interrupted him, smirking mischievously, “Na-gi-to. It’s easy.”

“N-Nagito...” Hajime kind of muttered, not quite seeing why this was a big deal. He referred to Komaeda by Komaeda because that was just... how it was. He never felt close enough to him to change that.

“Louder,” Komaeda, err, Nagito demanded.

“Nagito!” Hajime snapped.

K- Nagito’s smirk evaporated into a wide grin. “Thank you, Hajime. That made me really happy. If we’re going to stay like this, can you keep calling me that? Please?”

“L-Like this...?” Hajime choked out, feeling as though this were one huge misunderstanding.

Nagito nodded his head eagerly. “Truth is, I really like you. I have for a while now. Not only because of the hope that dwells within you, but also because you’re the only one who’s ever... put up with me. I know you’re not just being a masochist, which is what baffles me even more...” He started wrapping his arms around himself, his eyes almost... crazed. “Just thinking about how desperately you must have been trying to save my life makes me tingle all over. I feel like everything inside of me is turning to mush. Is this that rumoured love feeling? Is someone like me even worthy of such an emotion?”

He looked up, expression serious again. “You... like me back, don’t you?” He sounded doubtful. He supposed it would fit his pattern of good and bad luck if it turned out like that.

But Hajime wasn’t too sure. He wanted to say he didn’t and that this was just all a misunderstanding, but at the same time, he felt like that would be a lie. It was true that he cared about K- Nagito. But to what extent, he wasn’t too sure.

“... It’s better if you don’t.” Nagito’s sigh caused Hajime to bite at the inside of his cheek, “After all, everyone who gets close to me dies. I’d rather you stay away from me and hate me than reciprocate my feelings. I’m a stepping-stone. You should care more about the other ultimates.”

“I won’t... die,” Hajime hissed, hands clenching into fists.

Nagito looked surprised. “Oh, but you’ve seen my luck. A fist-sized meteorite strategically killing my parents, the terrorist, and not me? We could be walking along the beach and a massive shark could come out of nowhere and gobble you up. Oh, what despair that would bring!” he argued lightly.

Hajime shook his head. “I’m the ultimate hope though, right?” he pointed out, “So according to your ideals, I can’t be defeated. I’ll always defeat despair. Right?!”

Nagito was silent for a few moments, expression drooping like he could pass out at any second. “So you’re willing to waste your gift... on me?”

Hajime felt another flash of panic run through him. He had been arguing Nagito’s statements out of habit... he hadn’t realized he had also been arguing for the two of them to, er, be a thing.

Him and Nagito? Two guys? That was... weird, wasn’t it? He was better off going after Akane or Sonia, right? Although, he supposed they weren’t really... his type? Did he even have a type??

But he spent all that time and energy trying to figure the guy out and make sure he didn’t do anything stupid (which he ultimately failed at). Could they just... live as friends? He could tell Nagito wasn’t lying about, er, loving him. A while ago he would’ve doubted it, but now, as the silence seemed to constrict him, he believed it. Nagito loved him. Like, actually. And Hajime...

Hajime swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. With the killings done, Nagito was pretty harmless now, right? If they could return to their friendly relationship before all the craziness went down, he wouldn’t mind that. He enjoyed that Nagito’s company. And it wasn’t like he could live much of a normal life now with the world in disarray.

He took another deep breath. He could feel himself shaking. He was scared. But of what? Of Nagito? No. Of... of what had just happened. Nagito’s illness was still there. What if he died and Hajime had fully fallen for him? It was true he could move on but... could he? Did it even matter? His head felt like it was spinning.

Nagito sighed softly. “It’s alright, I think I understand. I guess I was just... too excited. Dying alone sounds scary. But if I... could have loved... then... it doesn’t seem too bad-”

“You won’t be a waste.” Hajime was momentarily proud of how strong that came out to be, “I’m tired of hearing you talk bad about yourself. If loving you is what will make you happy and able to trust again, then I’ll do it! I won’t be wasting my time with you. I want to be with you, to help you, to support you. S-so...”

He moved back over to the pod, forcing himself to look Nagito in the eyes. “S-so if you... want to I’ll... d-date you...”

Nagito watched him for a while, most likely waiting for him to laugh and say it was all a joke. But Hajime had steeled his resolve. This was what he wanted to do with his future. They would all live happily together on this island, away from the chaos of the mainland. And he’d be with Nagito. Because... because it just felt like the right thing to do.

“... You’re not lying?” Nagito’s words were a bare whisper.

Hajime moved himself closer, reaching out to take Nagito’s good hand and hold it firmly. “No. Nagito, will you date me?”

Nagito’s expression was blank as tears started to cascade down his face. Startled, Hajime reached out to dry them, to which Nagito gave up and buried his face in Hajime’s sleeve.

“... I’m so happy...” He was crying now, sobs wracking his frail body. Hajime wasn’t sure if crying was good for him physically, but mentally, he had a feeling this was something he had needed for a long time.

Hajime slowly crawled back into the pod so he could draw Nagito into a proper hug. Nagito then buried his face in his chest, causing a weird fluffy feeling to ripple through Hajime. Huh. This was... nice.

The others were probably confused and alarmed when they returned to see the two practically cuddling in the little pod. No one said anything, though, so when feast time rolled around, everyone gathered outside around the fire.

“So, uh, Komaeda. How’re you feeling?” Kazuichi managed after taking a huge bite out of his fish.

Nagito was leaning lazily against Hajime, poking at his fish as he waited for it to cool. “Better than ever before, actually,” he murmured, stifling a yawn.

Hajime ate quietly, that fluffy feeling from before having not gone away. Since he seemed fine with Nagito, everyone else gradually warmed up to him as time passed. They didn’t question their relationship, though every once in a while Fuyuhiko would tease Hajime for volunteering to stay back at the base, as Nagito was too weak to help hunt and forage and had to stay at the base no matter what.

But other than that, things were pretty good. All they had to do was live and wait until the others woke up, whenever that was.  

 


End file.
